The Great Railway Exposition 1830-1980 - inside spread

Resource Type: Image | Posted on 9th December 2011 by Liam Physick

This is an inside spread from the leaflet promoting the Great Railway Exposition. It begins by boasting, “Manchester’s Liverpool Road Station was the world’s very first passenger railway station. That’s something Britain can be proud of. 15th September 1980 [the anniversary of the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway] is the station’s 150th birthday. And that’s something Britain can celebrate.” Therefore it promises “a gigantic birthday party lasting six weeks, packed with unforgettable events and experiences; sights and sounds that will fascinate, stimulate and educate everyone, be they young or old.” It advertises the events to take place, including a “steam fantasia”, featuring life-size replicas of the Rocket (behind which visitors can ride), the Sans Pareil and the Novelty, and a number of other well-known locomotives like Flying Scotsman, the Sir Nigel Gresley, the Scots Guardsman, the Lion and the Lord Nelson. The Lord Nelson was the first of 16 locomotives from the Southern Railway’s Lord Nelson Class, built by Richard Maunsell between 1926 and 1929 (all locomotives in the Class were named after famous admirals in the Royal Navy): it was built in August 1926. Built to a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement, the Lord Nelson locomotives were very powerful. They were originally numbered E850-E865 - the “E” was dropped from 1931. Following nationalisation, an “S” prefix was briefly added to the SR numbers before, as was BR’s usual custom with former SR locomotives, their numbers were increased by 30000: thus, 850 Lord Nelson became 30850. In the 1940s, the Lord Nelson locomotives began to be replaced on top-link express trains by the Bulleid Pacifics, though they continued to be used in peak periods or to deputise for failures. They became surplus to requirements after the Bulleids were rebuilt to become more reliable in the late 1950s, and were withdrawn from service in 1961 and 1962. Only the Lord Nelson, withdrawn in August 1962 was preserved, becoming part of the National Collection in the 1970s, and is currently based on the Mid-Hants Railway: it returned to traffic on 9th April 2011, following a 26-year overhaul

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Edge Hill Station is the oldest passenger railway station in the World. Some say when Stephenson's Rocket left Edge Hill for Manchester on the 15th September 1830 it marked the beginning of the modern world.